detox just to retox
by thatssupersketch
Summary: rule #1: no dating players from rival lacrosse teams. Sokka was going to kill her.


"But I don't want to go," Katara protests. "I don't even like lacrosse."

Sokka tugs her arm harder, her words futile against her brother's straining mass. "But I'm playing, Katara," he whines. "Don't you want to support me?"

Toph responds before Katara can answer. "No," she states bluntly, looking disgruntled. "Boys' sports are boring anyways."

For this, Sokka stops. "Hey!" he blurts out, red appearing on his cheeks. "That's not true! We play hard, and it's more competitive-"

Toph waves him off dismissively. "Boys are crybabies. Have you ever seen boys' soccer?"

"Have you?" Sokka mutters indignantly under his breath, and swiftly receives an elbow to the gut. "Toph!"

Katara steps in between her brother and her friend, doing her best to simultaneously diffuse the heat rising between them. Both had rash tempers, which often led Katara and Aang to be the mediators in the group.

Sokka puts his hand over his stomach and glares at Toph, but soon resumes the task of pestering his sister. "You are coming, though, right?"

She rolls her eyes. "I always do."

He smiles genuinely and looks over to Toph. "Are you coming?"

"Like I have better things to do."

"Alright!" Sokka looks downright giddy, and rubs his hands together, which Katara has seen him do far too often for her liking. It has a slightly creepy effect, but Aang thinks it's funny, and Sokka can't afford to lose a laugh.

Shouldering his bag, Sokka glances out towards the field, examining the state of the players. "Oh, looks like I better go. Team captain can't be late," he says smugly, saluting and spinning with a weird grace that she would consider clumsy if he couldn't stay upright. The only reason, Katara thought, that he earned the role of team captain, was because he played hard and faked the other team out often enough that it had become an unspoken strategy. Toph did remark to Sokka (quite often) that he sounded like a herd of elephants when he ran, which was visually affirmed by all of her visual comrades. But it worked for him, and it's what the team needed. He wouldn't be Sokka if he didn't have the grace of a newborn colt that constantly tripped over itself.

Katara and Toph don't say much, but they don't need to. Katara is grateful that she has a friend that understands that every silence does not need to be filled. They find themselves heading toward the lacrosse field already, carefully picking their steps in the uneven clumps of grass. Begrudgingly, Katara has to admit that even though she is blind, Toph is still more graceful than her. It's not something she would admit to her face, but it was obvious (to everyone) that Toph already knew, and Katara, after all, was related to Sokka.

The boys were only starting to warm up, so the bleachers were only partially filled. For Toph's benefit, as well as her wanting to see Sokka play, they sat in the front row. Sokka shoots her several cheesy grins and gross faces throughout the warmup, which Katara can't help but grin at.

"He looks so excited," she muses. "Like a small puppy."

"So that's why he drools."

Katara rolls her eyes, but mentally agrees with her friend. "Why is he acting this goofy?"

Toph lilts her head to the side, half focused on Katara and the other half focused on "reading" the locations of the players. "We're playing the Sun Warriors."

"Who?"

She sighs heavily, clearly regretting the choice of sitting next to her friend. "You know, our rival team? The ones with games that usually end up in some sort of riot?"

Katara doesn't respond, so Toph continues, fully turning her attention on the junior. "That's all anyone can even talk about this week. There are banners up all over the school. Or so I'm told, anyways."

Come to mention it, Katara had seen banners. She just hadn't really paid much attention to them. Don't get her wrong, she was extremely competitive about certain things…just not boys' high school lacrosse. Even if her brother was playing. "Yeah, I saw those," Katara agrees, which seemed to satisfy Toph at least a little bit.

The bleachers had filled up more during their exchange, and Katara decided it was time for a snack run. Rummaging through her purse to make sure she had enough money on her, she nudged Toph. "Want anything from the concessions stand?"

"Nah," Toph shakes her head."Just make sure to get a roster."

Katara looks at her quizzically, and as if she can read her mind, Toph clarifies. "Stats. Names. I want to know who scores and who sounds like they run like geese."

Katara acquiesces, as it's one of Toph's easier requests. When Toph transferred from being homeschooled at her mansion with a private tutor, it took a while for her to adjust to the fact that she couldn't just order everyone around, no matter how much she scared them (although it seemed to work rather well for a while.) That's actually how they became friends. Well, really, Sokka was being an idiot and Katara stood up for him for whatever reason, and Toph liked her attitude. Not so much directed against her, but Toph had told her multiple times Katara's attitude would definitely come in handy when it came to other "plans," whatever that meant.

As she made her way up to the snack stand, she became aware of people she definitely had not seen before. She figured that these must be the "enemy," as Sokka referred to them. Narrowly avoiding a couple collisions, she finally made it to the counter. After ordering a basket of nachos, she shuffled to the side to wait. Right after her, a tall, raven haired boy was paying, pulling crisp bills out of his wallet. Katara couldn't help but admire him. From what she could see, he was fit and had a crooked smile. Not to mention he had black hair, which Katara had a "thing" for (Toph.) She constantly got flack from her friends over Jet, and apparently these days her choices weren't much better. Unfortunately, after discovering this treasure of a boy, she looked him over and noticed the emblem on his jacket—his warm up jacket. Dating a guy from another school may be a social taboo, but dating another player? Unforgivable.

Trying to make herself small and unnoticeable, she managed to do the complete opposite. Her acting "natural" was completely unnatural, and only drew attention to herself. After shoving his change in his bag and grabbing the candy the vendor handed him, he stopped when he saw her. His grin never left his face, but he held out his box of hot tamales out to her. "Want one?"

She quickly shakes her head no, and felt her face grow warm.

He shrugs, popping another into his mouth. "Suit yourself. Are you a Chief?"

Katara narrows her eyes at him, beginning to dislike him, thank goodness. "Are you insinuating that because of my heritage?"

His eyes widen and he sputters, looking surprised. "No! Not at all! Your skin tone is really pretty, actua—I just meant—team mascot?" He looks earnest, eager to not offend her. Strange.

Now it's her turn to feel embarrassed. "Oh. Oh, yeah. I am." She rubs her arm in discomfort. "Sorry."

Before he can speak again, Katara began edging away. "I gotta go. Support and all." She squints at the candy in his hands. "You really shouldn't eat that before the game, anyways."

Wanting to never see his face again because of her dumb assumptions and the fact that he's HOT and she screwed up and she didn't even get her nachos—

When she returns back empty handed, Toph snickers at her. "What'd you mess up this time?"

And for once, Toph has no idea.


End file.
